It is known that certain glucocorticoids (GCS) can be used for local therapy of inflammatory, allergic or immunologic diseases in respiratory airways (e.g. asthma, rhinitis), in skin (eczema, psoriasis) or in bowel (ulcerative colitis, Morbus Crohn). With such local glucocorticoid therapy, clinical advantages over general therapy (with e.g. glucocorticoid tablets) are obtained, especially regarding reduction of the unwanted glucocorticoid effects outside the diseased area. To reach such clinical advantages, in e.g. severe respiratory airway disease, GCS must have a suitable pharmacological profile. They should have a combination of high intrinsic glucocorticoid activity at the application site but also a rapid inactivation by biotransformation (e.g. in the liver) after uptake into the general circulation. In laboratory models, the intrinsic glucocorticoid activity can be measured as local anti-inflammatory potency on the rat ear and the unwanted systemic glucocorticoid activity determined from the extent of thymus involution.